Page 16 of Devil's Deal

Chapter

Six

BOSLEY

When didmy life become such a clusterfuck? I should’ve stayed out of this damn town. A good orgasm didn’t clear my head. In fact, it only fucked it up worse. HisDaddyas he came had flicked a trigger in me. I’d told him I was a Daddy without any thoughts of the possibility of him being a boy. Which was wrong. There was no body type, no age, no strict rules, and I’d made a wrong assumption. Wrong for him. Wrong for me.

I didn’t mess with boys unless we talked about it first. Until they knew that I wouldn’t—couldn’t—stay. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt someone, and my Daddy heart couldn’t bear the thought that I’d left Cory messed up or abandoned the way I’d left Chip all those years ago. It hadn’t been intentional with him. We’d talked about it, and yet it had happened anyway.

Being a Daddy for those weekends was special to me. A way to wash off the taint—the brutality—of my existence. But after I heard what Chip had suffered, I’d promised never to play that way again. I’d never bring someone into this life, the only one I’d ever known. Maybe someday, far in the future, I could retire in some remote area, far away from this life, and I’d find a boy then, but not now.

And Cory, quirky Cory, he needed someone now. I should’ve known. Even as I’d drooled over how hot he was as he ran on that treadmill, there’d been something about him that called to me. A softness. Damn, I’d really screwed the pooch on this one.

A man approached my car, keeping a hand on his sidepiece, and I realized I’d sat out in front of the Buccelli mansion for too long. They’d given me a time, and I needed to get my ass in gear. Holding up my hands so the guard could see them, I nodded toward the handle. He tipped his chin up at me, and I exited the car.

“I’m here to see Don Buccelli. He’s expecting to me.”

The guard was on the younger side with a baby face, so I didn’t recognize him, but he grunted like someone who’d earned his place guarding the home of the new Buccelli Boss. “I know who you are. Boss saw you pull in. Turn around.”

My jaw tightened, but I turned and allowed myself to be frisked. I had no beef here. All I wanted was to get the fuck out of town, so I’d left my baby in the trunk. All the tools of my trade were wrapped and in the compartment for the spare tire. I highly doubted Babyface would ask to search there. At least, he better not. If that had been Nico’s orders, I’d see it as a sign of disrespect. One that I didn’t deserve or appreciate.

The guy stepped back once his search was complete. “You’re clean.” No shit, asshole. “Do you know where the study is?”

It was my turn to grunt. The guard scowled, and I rolled my eyes, dismissing him as I turned and strode up the steps to the front door. The foyer was clear except for a couple of soldiers leaning against the walls, watching me with curiosity. My gaze swept around, noticing that the old-style Italian décor remained. Unsurprising since the former Don, Nico’s grandfather, and his wife were still alive and resided here. At least according to my intel.

Unlike the man in the foyer, the two soldiers guarding the office door were standing at attention on either side. They both glared daggers at me, but neither stopped me as I gave three brisk knocks.

“Get your ass in here, Romeo,” Rocco, the youngest Buccelli brother, yelled. The kid was a livewire. A hothead. More aggressive and likely to solve problems with blood than his older siblings.

As I made my way in, I heard Vin, the middle brother, hiss at Rocco, “Shut your face. This isn’t a social call.”

Rocco, who was the youngest by ten years and an oopsie baby from what I heard, glared at his brother, then turned toward me with open arms. “Romeo.”

Holding myself stiffly, I stopped before I reached him and inclined my head in his direction. “Call me Bosley,” I said.

Rocco snorted. “Yeah, Bosley Taylor, right? What a stupid name.”

Vin crossed his arms over his chest. Vincenzo Buccelli was the quiet one. In my opinion, the scariest of the three. In his three-piece suit, he looked more like a boring-ass banker than what he was. The wickedly smart, often underestimated grandson of a mob Boss. The son of a brutal man, who’d paid for his own sins with blood.

“Don’t mock him, Rocco.” Vin shot his little brother the stink-eye. “You need to pay better attention. Bosley was the surname of the man who paid for putting Romeo’s mom in prison with his life. Taylor was the last name of his first paid kill. He’s not to be underestimated.”

Anger threatened to choke me. This family was the only one who knew my secrets. The names I went by and why, and I hated that. I despised the feeling of familiarity it bred. “Bosley is the name I go by when I’m not working. Most of my clientele don’t know my face, so I’d rather you not throw around my given name.”

“And yet, even in your off-time,” Vin said with air quotes around off-time. “You carry your violence in your name.”

I ignored him, focusing on Nico. Niccolò Buccelli sat behind the monstrosity of a desk that had resided here since I was a kid. He’d been given this right, but I still remembered his own father backhanding him halfway across the room when he’d walked in and found his eldest son sitting on his grandfather’s throne. It wasn’t really a throne, but it might as well have been with the honor that seat was given.

Nico eyed me coolly. “So we’re to believe you’re not working.”

I gave one stiff shake of my head. “No. I’m in Takoda on personal business.”

Vin smirked. “You’d have us believe you have a personal life. What, Romeo Caputo has friends outside of us?”

I wasn’t their friend, but I bit that back and said, “No, but Bosley Taylor has acquaintances.” I wouldn’t say that they mattered or were real friends because who knew what one of the younger two men would do with that information. “No contracts, though,” I said to Nico, staring him in the eye so he could see my sincerity.

Vin huffed. “So you’re really expecting us to believe that you’re not here for a contract? You’re going to lie right to our faces like that.”

I glanced at him, then back at Nico. “It’s exactly what I expect you to believe.”

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